


Aware

by curious_kei



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Love Triangles, M/M, Sylvain-centric, alternate endings, but the pairings get their own endings, choosing one pairing was too hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25278880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curious_kei/pseuds/curious_kei
Summary: As far as Sylvain is aware, he loves Felix who loves Dimitri who is oblivious to it all. So Sylvain, seeing how obvious Felix is with his feelings towards Dimitri—aka someone who's not him—decides to be petty and ask Dimitri out himself to try and get a rise out of Felix. And that's exactly what he does.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Aware

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to be clear: despite how this story may seem, I love Sylvain and find him to be a really interesting, complex character. I'm going to try to show off some of the complexities I see in him in this story along with everything else going on, so I hope you'll find it interesting at least.

Sylvain likes to think of himself as very self-aware. When it comes to matters of the heart in particular, he knows he’s as fickle as they come, always game to charm multiple ladies out of their skirts with his practiced flashy grins and overused pick-up lines. Despite what everyone tries to tell him about his behavior, he doesn’t see a problem with it; if they’re dumb enough to fall for the bravado in the first place, it’s only fair he be able to take advantage of it however he pleases. 

It’s pretty boring though, flirting with girls. A lot of things are: going to class, studying, learning whatever he needs to know so he can help one of his best friends run his business when the time comes…Hell, getting slapped by Ingrid after she finds out about one of his escapades and ends up cleaning up after him is probably the most exciting thing to him these days. Unfortunately, he knows exactly why he feels this way, though it’s something he doesn’t like admitting even to himself: he wants a _challenge_. School isn’t a challenge when he either already knows the material or picks it up without a hitch, everything having to do with picking up girls is predictable in every way, and working out feels like more of a chore than anything. He craves something that’ll shake up his world a bit—more-so than his occasional visits to the horse ranch with Ingrid or his dark descent into the world Bernadetta’s secret fanfiction.

His feet move on autopilot, guiding him on an all-too-familiar path that leads him to an equally familiar sight: the back of a head of silky blue hair tied messily up into a long ponytail, its owner hunched over the desk.

“Hey Felix,” Sylvain greets with a wide, cheeky grin, one arm already slinking around his shorter friend’s shoulders as he slips into in the empty seat next to him. A swift elbow jabbing into his side has his arm immediately relinquishing its hold as he hisses from the sting of it; he can take a hit pretty well, but Felix is _strong._

“What have I told you about touching me, Sylvain?” Felix questions flatly, one eyebrow raised in judgement. Sylvain stares back at him with an almost sheepish look.

“Not to do it?”

“So he _does_ have something of a brain in that empty skull of his,” Felix says offhandedly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear. Just as quickly as Sylvain’s eyes are instantly drawn to the graceful movement of those slender fingers, they settle back on Felix’s irritated face instead.

“I can’t have a brain _and_ an empty skull, Felix!” Sylvain points out with a slight whine. “You’ve gotta choose!”

“Empty, then,” Felix decrees with a level of savageness Sylvain has come to both expect and dread. He shoots his grumpy friend a sour look and leans his cheek into his palm, his eyes idly glancing over the assignment his friend is working on on his laptop and the page of text laid out next to it.

“You’re thinking of this wrong,” he explains casually, leaning in closer than is strictly necessary to tap at a sentence on Felix’s laptop. Felix just frowns, his eyes narrowing in on where the finger is pointing. Sylvain masks a frown of his own, mentally berating himself for being disappointed that Felix hadn’t reacted to his close proximity at all. He _knows_ Felix, knows he wouldn’t have reacted the way Sylvain wanted him to anyway.

He watches Felix’s frown twist into a disgusted snarl as he furiously held down the back button to erase the entire sentence and everything afterwards. As he angrily threads his fingers through the shorter silky strands hanging in his face, Sylvain’s eyes can’t help once again flickering to the movement with interest.

“This is ridiculous! I feel like I’ve been rereading the same damn story all day and it still has yet to make a shred of sense. How is someone supposed to actually write an essay about this!?” Felix growled, his angry glare still pointed at his assignment.

“It’s not that hard, man! Look, like I said, you’re thinking about this wrong, right? It’s because right about here,” Sylvain pointed at a section of the page next to the assignment and circled around it, “you’re on the wrong track and then you’re basing all your conclusions afterwards on that faulty thinking. So just try rethinking that part and you’ll get it.”

He could just given Felix the answer, but another thing he knows about his prideful friend is that he’d never accept a handout, wanting instead to put in the hard work himself. Just like Sylvain, Felix lives for a challenge; Felix is just a lot more upfront about it.

After the explanation, Sylvain finds himself graced with one of those rare moments where Felix doesn’t put up a fight. His full focus is trained on the assignment he’d been struggling with for who knew how long as he hums quietly to himself, his brow furrowing and his nose scrunching the harder he thinks. Cute.

Even cuter? Felix’s face when he finally understands how he’s supposed to be thinking about everything, lit up and painted with a childlike glee he‘d usually be caught dead before letting anyone see. His fingers busy themselves with filling up the mostly white document with black text for the next few minutes, Sylvain quietly taking in the sight.

He feels like a creep just staring like this, but it’s not often he gets to really look at Felix without noticing and snapping at him. Sylvain has been with _a lot_ of girls over the years, all of them ranging in looks and personality, yet none of them ever really seemed to hold a candle to Felix. Sure some of them might’ve been friendlier or gentler or more attractive, but Felix has always been uniquely desirable in his own right. He may not be particularly friendly, but he cares deeply about those he’d deemed worthy and does all he can to help them grow and flourish in his own way. Besides, Felix’s harshness is kind of endearing. Sometimes. Or maybe he’s just used to it or has some masochistic tendencies he’s never fully explored. And Felix isn’t you’d call gentle, but he focuses all his crazy amount of discipline on getting stronger. Now as far as _attractiveness_ —

“I suppose I should thank you,” Felix concedes, amber eyes darting to the side to look Sylvain’s way. Broken from his previous train of thought, Sylvain’s eyes widen in mock surprise as he holds a hand up to his heart.

“What is this? The great Felix Hugo Fraldarius is actually going to grace not just anyone, but me, Sylvain Jose Gautier, with a _thank you_?”

“I’m quickly reconsidering, I assure you,” Felix snaps, turning to pierce Sylvain with his full-on glare. Unbothered, Sylvain simply offers him a crooked grin in return.

“Well before you change your mind completely, there’s no better thank you than a kiss,” he says smugly as he leans in closer, and it’s worth every bit of Felix’s inevitable anger to see the flood of red that saturates his pale cheeks _. Finally_.

Felix grits his teeth, his eyes falling shut as his forehead seems to pulse with annoyance.

“Why are you always like this? I can’t even try to thank you without you completely ruining it. _Grow up_ already,” he seethes, not even waiting for a response before gathering up his things in a hurry and leaving the library without so much as a wave goodbye.

Any other time, Sylvain likely would’ve called out after him or gotten up to chase after him. This time, however, he lets his head dip back just beyond his chair’s backrest as he stares at the ceiling, a myriad of thoughts running through his head. He sighs and drags a hand down the length of his face.

Of all the challenges he’d ever desired to pursue, why did this one have to be the most impossible?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the tags state, I plan to have separate endings for both sylvix and dimivix (bc i couldn't decide which this should be when i started it since i love them both, so i figure let's try both!). Let me know as the story goes on if you'd like to see a dimivain ending as well (if there's interest and i decide to do it, i'll adjust their tag).
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/blacksnowfall19)

**Author's Note:**

> Like the tags state, I'd like to try to do alternate endings for both ships (bc i love them both so much and couldn't decide which i wanted so i figured why not both). If, as the story goes on, you think you'd like to see dimivain, please let me know so I can consider making an ending for that too.


End file.
